


scratch

by fictionalrobin



Series: robin writes horror [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: Horror, M/M, Psychological Horror, spooky stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-01-29
Packaged: 2019-03-11 02:03:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13514445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fictionalrobin/pseuds/fictionalrobin
Summary: living with a cat, Magnus got used to hearing scratches on his door at night.when Chairman Meow passed away it became much more unsettling.





	scratch

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by "Growing up with cats and dogs i got used to hearing scratches on my door while i slept. Now that i live alone it's much more unsettling" from this video of two sentence horror stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76ICum9UtPk

Cars drew past outside, casting window-shaped patterns on the ceiling. They glided past, gently and peacefully, like kytes. Sometimes, a particularly fast car would drive by, and a stripe would slide through the rest with accompanied speed. 

It was the signature midnight experience for big cities. New York included. The city that never sleeps. Ironically enough, this significant indication of business, had grown to relax Magnus. Many nights, it'd been the very thing that'd put him to sleep. 

But not this night. 

This night, his eyes were wide open, following each line of light glide across his roof. Watching them, instead of the clock. He could see them, the numbers, in the outer corner of his vision. Like demonic eyes they gleamed in the dark. 

He shouldn't be awake.

He really shouldn't be awake.

He rolled over on his side, staring into the wall instead. The sheets clung to his body like desperate hands, and he shook them off, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes. 

Soon it would start, and he'd be left alone, forced to endure them while they lasted. Even if Alec always slept through this, it would've felt nice to hold someone. Just so he wouldn't feel so alone. Even if he didn't know.

Alec. 

Magnus hadn't told him. Didn't want to sound crazy. After all, it could just be a figment of his imagination. He'd heard of people, who'd still hear the sound of their dogs running around the apartment, even long after they'd passed. He thought it was like that too. And Chairman used to scratch on their door at night all the time. It was just his mind, coping with the loss of his cat. 

But that still didn't explain why the noises began at exactly three am. every night. Why they didn't stop till sunrise. Why, even as he squeezed his eyes shut and repeated to himself over and over again, that it wasn't real, it still wouldn't go away. 

He sighed and carefully rolled around. His legs were stiff, and somehow, even moving felt risky. He adjusted his blanket. 

_Scritch_

His eyes shot open and flew to the clock. 

03:00 am

_Shit_

He took a shaky breath and gripped the sheets. 

_Scritch_ _scratch_ _scratch_

Three quick slashes, right after each other. Loud and lumpy. He nuzzled deeper into the sheets and tried to shut it out. 

 _Scritch_ _scritch_ _shratch_ _scritch_ _scratch_ _scritch_ _scratch_

Why did Alec _have_ to pull an all-nighter? Shit, shit shit shit. He really wasn't good at this. Go to sleep, it's best if you sleep through it.

 _Scratch_ _scratch_ _scritch_ _scratch_ _scritch_ _scrape_ _scratchy_ _scritch_ _scratch_ _scritch_ _scratch_ _scratch_

Go to sleep, just go to sleep, there's nothing there, it can't hurt you, it's all in your head, it's all just in your head.

 _Scritch_ _scratch_ _scratch_ _S_ _critch_ _scritch_ _shratch_ _scritch_ _scritch_ _scratch_ _scritch_

It's not real. 

 _scratch_ _scratch_ _s_ _critch_ _scritch_ _shratch_ _scritch_ _scritch_ _scratch_ _scritch_ _scratch_ _scratch_

His heart thrummed through his skull. His whole body vibrated. Like a mouse. Why? Why him, what did he do to deserve this? Okay so maybe he wasn't the most honest, purest example of good, but he certai-

_Thump_

Thump? What do you mean thump? He only heard scratches at night and thumps weren't scratches. 

_Thump_

Magnus was still. Completely still. Too scared to breathe or even blink. Afraid that it would be too loud. Thumps. Thumps ment that something...was trying to get in oh god. 

_Thump_

Alec. He needed Alec. But his phone was all the way over on his bedside table. 

Shit 

Shit shit shit he really didn't want to do that.

He swallowed.

Slowly, he lifted the edge of his blanket, his finger peeping out, extending past the edge of the bed. It was like reaching across Grand Canyon, not just the few inches between the bed and the table. He felt exposed. More than he ever had before. As if something was about to reach out and grab his wrist in the dark. He repressed a whimper and concentrated on stretching his fingers, reaching them out towards the android on his bedside table. 

As soon as his hand wrapped around the device, he pulled it back in under the covers with such speed, he almost dropped the phone. 

_Screech_

Magnus froze. 

His entire body went cold, when he heard the door open. His heart slammed so hard his head was spinning, and he shakily pressed the off-button on his phone.

He could hear it moving. 

The door swinging further open. 

Something that sounded like footsteps. 

He squeezed his eyes shut. Didn't dare breathe. Just stayed under the covers. He could hear it, so close. It was right next to the bed. 

It was breathing heavily. Raspy. Like pins were stuck in it's throat. He could feel it more than hear it.

He wanted to scream. Was already screaming, just not out loud. All he could do was clench his pillow on terror. Squeeze his eyes shut and hope it didn't find him. 

Was this it? Was this how he would die? He'd never really thought too much about death, being immortal and all. It was always just a far-fetched concept. Something he was surrounded by, but never truely related to. But now he understood. This was it. this was the end of Magnus Bane. Fuck he didn't wanna die. He wanted to kiss his boyfriend, laugh with his friends. Go on adventures. He had so much to live for. 

Then he realised. 

It was gone. 

He couldn't hear it anymore. 

What?

He furrowed his brow under the covers. Could it be? He reached a hand outside the covers, slowly and carefully, and pulled it aside. 

There was nothing there. 

The door was closed. Lights in the shape of windows traced his ceiling. Magnus wanted to laugh. There was nothing there. Of course there was nothing there. It'd all just been in his head. He sat up fully, picking up his phone to text Alec.

And a hand grabbed his shoulder. 

**Author's Note:**

> !!!!!!!PSA!!!!!!!!  
>  so my both of my tumblr blogs got deleted, my main blog (@polar-robin) as well as my side blog where i posted my fan fictions (@fictionalrobin)
> 
> IF YOU KNEW ME ON ANY OF THOSE URLS THIS IS ME
> 
> i have yet to set up a new writing blog, so if you want to read my fics, you can just follow me @robinowich (it’s a lot of work to set up a blog and I’m already exhausted from setting up my main one)
> 
> no i don’t know what happened, to me it seemed random, however I had just edited my settings for the new privacy policy thing (WHICH IS IMPORTANT CUSS I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF ANYONE HAS EXPERIENCED A SIMULAR PROBLEM)
> 
> anyways, I lost 350 followers on one blog and close to 100 on the other, as well as three years of gain, and I had to set up a whole new email address, because tumblr still registered me as a user even though my blog had been deleted, and it just said “your blog has been terminated” when i tried to log in :’)


End file.
